Lawyer For Aggrieved Black Farmers: Reject The Obama Administration $1.1 Settlement, File Suit With The International Criminal Court

Black farmers decry discrimination offer

Clearly some people don't know how to quit when they're ahead.

Some facts need to be brought out on this case:

• The original settlement was available to every Black farmer who ALLEGED that the reason for the denial of their loan from the Ag Dept was due to racism.  Thus they had a certain period of time to file a claim and receive cash from the settlement.  (The Ag. Dept did acknowledge that there were racist practices done by some in their regional offices)
• This expanded settlement was to provide compensation for those Black Farmers that missed the cut off date setup for the first batch of payments.
• The "International Criminal Court" was set up to prosecute people who escaped justice when their national government refused to prosecute them for (what was mostly intended to be) "war crimes" or gross violations of human rights.

The president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Inc is merely grandstanding.

To be honest with you - I would rather see these billions given to various "A&M" schools around the nation so that they can TRAIN UP a new batch of Black Agricultural Professionals RATHER THAN lining the pockets of those who have been aggrieved.

I struggle some times to understand the rationale of people who believe that those with money in their pockets due to profits should have that money taxed away and given to the government while those who have a grievance against the government or a corporation should receive a jackpot judgment thus transferring public money into private hands.   If only your logic that "the fine must be sizable enough to insure that the wrongdoer doesn't do it again applied to criminal defendants.  Instead your punitive spirit seems to abate.


The Article:

Black farmers offered a "unilateral" settlement of claims of discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week should instead appeal to the International Court of Justice, their Memphis-based president said Tuesday.

Thomas Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Inc., with an estimated 5,000 members in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, rejected as inadequate last week's offer by Atty. Gen. Eric Holder.

The federal government agreed to pay up to $50,000 to black farmers who could establish their cases before neutral arbitrators. The $1.25 billion settlement was offered to farmers who alleged racial discrimination in the implementation of USDA loan programs but who did not make timely claims under a 1999 settlement with the Clinton Agriculture Department.

"You've got the largest democracy known to the human race -- the United States of America -- discriminating, admittedly, against members of a minority group," Burrell said. "We think that raises this to the level of a human rights issue."

Burrell said the issue needs to be "raised to a court system outside and above and beyond the U.S. court system." He said the black farmers would seek nation status to raise their claims.

The International Court of Justice, which is part of the United Nations, attempts to resolve disputes between countries.